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Hey folks,
I'm normally a lurker here, I don't tend to post outside of my regular sites just read other peoples stuff. But I've been told I should post this over here so here I am, cap in hand showing you my finished bird. It's out the box and yes I'm fully aware of all the shortcomings of the kit, Davis Wing, Turrets yardy yar etc etc
I've put Master Model Barrels on it and some RB belts, not that you can see them, but other than that she's El Naturel
Finished in Alclad, Gunze and Ushchi metal powders, weathered with Mig products.
Thanks for looking and be gentle.........
Gary

When I had to spend some time in the ICU earlier this year I made a promise to myself: Should I get out of this
somehow, I would build and COMPLETE a model as soon as possible - and I did.
It's the Trumpeter A-4M kit with IsraCast conversion and IsraDecals. Colors are Gunze. Hope you'll like
what you see.
Lothar

I am interested in seeing the Revell 262A kit. I just built the Trumpeter 262 kit and thought it was a good one. Not great but pretty good. The main issue I had was getting the nose panel pieces to fit. The engine nacelles went together well although I elected not to include the engine internals.

This time the model quite difficult to paint.
The model Su-27 Ukrainian Air Force in camouflage "Digi" set is Trumpeter 1:32 model well-known so it doesn't make sense to describe something about this set again.
I can write one thing - we are waiting for a new model of this aircraft.
Model made straight from the box, I painted this model with the home made mask so they are not a perfect reflection of the camo Su-27.
I hope, however, that this model will please you, I like this camouflage very much ..

Hello friends.
I started last week a new model that I was commissioned. The fully scratchbuild model is a 1/32 scale Grumman Hellcat F-6F in polystyrene plastic with resin parts such as wheels and propellers and canopy in acetate plastic. The construction is well advanced with almost all the fuselage ready including the rivets marked and wing installed.
In the coming days I will post more photos of progress.
Thank you!
Hercules de Araujo

evening ladies
Hi Mark - interesting spot - I hadn't noticed that - the factory picture shows this as being unfilled so rightly or wrongly thats how it is going to be
Hi Brian - well, I cover that in a moment, but I also did a whole compound curve tutorial that shows wingtips being done too (bless that old F7F..)
Hi Bryan - I use solder in 0.6 & 0.8mm and found by rolling it straight (using a steel ruler on a sheet of glass), the best way to bend it is to slide tube over the bit you want to bend up to the bend itself and then holding the 'pipe', pull the tube in whatever direction and you keep the thing straight (well straighter anyway..)
seems the last few weeks has been a bit slow, but to be honest I have been hard at things, learning from a few mistakes on the way and redoing stuff I wasn't happy with..
..the first thing was to finish skinning the leading edge of the wings at the underside wing root - I needed a smooth surface to skin onto as this had all been chopped about to add in the frames & ribs in the landing gear well..
here, at the top you can see the curved sub-skin added...
..there is a lip / ledge the gear door sits on so a jig was made and some annealed 'L' shaped litho bent to shape and painted..
..these were then added and filled flush with the new skin so I can put soft annealed litho on top of both without it picking up the uneven surfaces below - here before filling..
..then the panel itself was made by getting a tape template of the shape and cutting it short at the curved edge to get the lip..
.. I then forgot to take a picture of the finished panel, so onto the wingtip
..I started by cutting the straight edges where the wingtip panel meets the other panels, then this join was taped down and the shape burnished to follow the curves. Once this was done a straight edge was added at the very tip where it will meet the underside tip skin.. once I had the main shape, the fastening rivets were added and here it is seen hinged upwards before adding the impact cement to fix it..
..before sanding smooth, the shape is pretty good anyway..
..and the final wingtip - as it is going to be being painted, any tiny blemishes can be dealt with using primer or filler..
..the bulk of the last couple of weeks was spent prepping for priming as I know alclad is so unforgiving.. I also replaced the landing light panel three times as I just couldn't get it to blend properly with the surrounding panels and actually found when I fitted the main skin as I rolled the leading edge skin over the edge, it was not all stuck right onto the surface so I had this hollow area that kept crushing and denting - it was all pretty frustrating..
..to add to that, after finally etch priming both wings, I found the primer easily coming off - so after a bit of research it turns out etch primer has a best before date - if it is not fresh, the acid in it goes off and it is basically like paint rather than etching and grabbing onto the surface
that all needed stripping, the rivet depressions cleaning out and the whole prep process done again...
anyways, I got some proper single pack etch primer from Phoenix Precision and have just painted the first coat - I am impressed when thinned 50/50 it goes on well and preserves much more detail than my old primer..
..you be the judge
..that stuff needs 36hrs to etch the surface so after that I can get a look at further prep for an alclad finish - though that stuff is pretty fragile so not sure what stage to paint it as I don't want to damage it and even taping up the wings is a risk as I have had it come off with masking tape..
more next time
TTFN
Peter

hello
I'm not used to that, but I hav a second project in progress. I've been collecting and documenting VFC-12's 08 Hornet because of its weathering, and some decals have been issued recently. When waiting for some parts for my twin B&W project, I couldnt resist starting that project, which will be rather slow, though.
Aires cockpit in progress:
Cokcpit has been painted with several layers of shades with hairspray between each one of them, then a wet brush chipped the worn areas.
Thanks to Miro Medzihradsky for the negative film tip !
I'v been using Anyz' products for hoses, leg straps and knob decals on the consoles. Very good products.
That etched stencil has been issued recently by Radu Brinzan. Great product for weathering.
bye
Fanch

April 27/19
Another update, but before I show anything, I was asked what I meant above when I said that a part of this build got the “Chuck Treatment”. All that means is that every single piece of plastic is sanded smooth, every panel line re-scribed and every rivet re-punched- sometimes several times between sanding sessions which remove detail. Some panel lines are added, others are removed and then I use Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color in Black to check my work. You’d be surprised how many flaws that you can’t see pop out with this wash, which means less corrections later after a first coat of paint.
That’s a good segue into this next step with the tail of the jet. The vertical stabilizer is two-piece like most kits, but instead of two equal sides, this one is split half-way on one side, which is a real pain to fix. Further, there’s a sink mark and other surface flaws on the plastic. My subject doesn’t have the fin cap, so it should be cut off and slightly rounded at the front edge.
Again, after the “Chuck Treatment” of about 6 hours, it can look pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The rudder and horizontal stabilizers are just dry fit.
There’s a circular gizmo that isn’t on my jet, so I cut it off and the main seam should be filled with panel lines rescribed. You’d be surprised how many builds of this kit out there retained this seam as a panel line. The bottom join is a bit crude, but with careful sanding and some thinned putty, the gap is filled.
Same with the front of the tail fin. There should be only one panel line that extends down the sides and not two, so the front seam should be filled and sanded smooth. Again, CA glue is clear and you can’t tell that it’s filled. Checking references, I forgot to add another panel at the rear, which will be the demarcation line from black paint to titanium.
The horizontal stabilizers were sanded thinner and all trialing edges were sanded to a sharp edge. The holes for the stabilizers are too wide, so I used a few coats of CA glue to tighten them up nice and snug for later installation.
Frontal view for reference.
In my earlier post of the wings, Paulo kindly pointed out that the ailerons were drooping down too low, which is the natural angle of the kit parts.
The fix is tricky, but I found the main culprit is the outside hinges, which are too thick on the bottom, forcing the aileron down too far. I carefully trimmed them with a knife, but to ensure a perfect angle, I glued them in with thin cement which is much stronger than CA glue after paint. All other parts will be left off for ease of painting. Note that the correct angle has the horizontal panel line on the aileron at the bottom of the wing- and no lower.
That’s it for now boys. I’m off on another vacation in a week, because we Geezers need to travel while we're still above the dirt!
Cheers,
Chuck

Hi,
Here is the second one of the year. After the Tempest, I continue in the propellers but in more modern way.
I added the Aerocraft metal landing gear wich are much more rigid than the kit ones.
As for my P-61, I added a metal spar that covers the entire span, highly recommended because the bonding surfaces are very small between the three parts of wings and beams.
Markings are painted with masks cut with the Silhouette.
The armament configuration is totally invented.
Hope you like it.
This is my second KH kit after the Kingfisher and they are not so difficult to built if you take your time.
Philippe.

Hi gents,
This guy has been on and off my shelf of doom for several years so it could be subtitled "Glutton for Punishment". One fine day in the somewhat distant past I came to the realization that over the years I had built all the Monogram (and Revell) 1/48th big bombers, except one: any version of the B-24. Well, gotta fix that! I kinda sorta knew that it would not be a "shake-n-bake" kit but little did I realize just how much work it would turn out to to be! Thus the time-outs on the SOD. I gathered some AM for the kit and ended up using some of it - the wheel wells and engines are CMK, good additions and not too terrible to make up although the wheel wells are a little fiddly to build up. They do look much better than the kit wells though. I thought long and hard between the engines versus the engine/1 piece cowl set and finally decided I couldn't justify the cost difference. Please, please - learn from my mistake! The kit molds the nacelles and cowls as top and bottom halves with the wing. Lots and lots of sanding, filling and re-scribing. I think each nacelle got its own trip to the SOD!. I got the Squadron vac-formed canopy and nose but it was damaged in shipping (big dent in the nose) but after looking at the molding I thought they were not as good as the kit pieces so ended up not using them. Finally the decals are Kits World. Kind of a letdown because the US insignia on the real thing is unique but are not included with the decal set. I tried to find just the insignia with no luck and had no intention of masking and painting them so finally just used the kit insignia.
Eduard interior - just the instrument panel but you cant see any of it anyway and brass gear rounded out the AM pieces.
As for the rest, paint is a custom mix from True North (figured I'd give them a try since my go-to MM is becoming scarce). Jury still out on the paint. Weathering was just a wash to accent the highlights.
Here we go:
More to come,
Cheers,
Mark

My messy paint booth offers the perfect background for the requested photos - there are quite a few things to give you an idea of the size of the beast.
I am currently running test prints of the sponsons on my Photon but I am not happy at all with the results. I may have to find another solution to print them...

Hello all-
been busy painting the Live Resin (and other) figures for the upcoming Kitty Hawk HH-60G Pavehawk. I’d like to get the figures done before the kit is released so I can simply concentrate on the kit once it is out-
more to follow-
Pete

I come back to modelling with the old Trumpeter’s Su-27B. This kit stayed almost 4 years on the shelf with half work done. So I decided to finish it as soon as posible before I ruin all that I did before. It seems so hard to pull the trigger for my new enlisted project in 2019. This old kit nicely detailed fit well together but also presents some minor mould’s errors. Luckily, the decal sheet still in good condition and I have no problem to finish her. Su-27 is a big plane, compared to thoses from US like F/A-18F, F-15E, F-14s. It’s big, so it’s Russian.
Here we go and I hope you, friends love her.

Here 's my last product. This kit is correct and of course we could enhance some parts as we want. My sources to make my kit are mainly:
French magazine Wing master n°44
Heinkel He 162: From Drawing Board to Destruction: the Volksjager Spatz Classic Publications / Ian Allan Publishing
and a french web site http://memorial.flight.free.fr/He162.html
The paint are for the camo
RLM 76.....Gunze 417
RLM 82.....Tamiya XF 26
RLM 81.....Gunze 421
Well , I hope you like
See you for a next one....

I agree on all points. Henri makes beautiful props! On my D-9 build, I was able to use a magnet to make the spinner removable so that you could see the detailed hub. But this one has a cannon firing through the spinner so I don't think I'll be able to do that.
Yes, this one is going to get riveted. I actually prefer the look of manually applied rivets versus the usual 1/32 molded rivets (Trumpeter and some Revell).
Wow... that is great information and an impressive piece of hardware. It looks brand new and it looks modern... for a restoration? Since it is so hidden, I'll probably leave it as is. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I move through the build. Thank you Vincent!
I played around with fitting the Eagle Editions cockpit into the fuselage. First, I wanted to check fit of the kit without the cockpit.
The molded details on the interior of the fuselage walls has to be removed. I scraped it off using a curved x-acto blade and then finished it off with rough sandpaper.
The rear sill needs to be trimmed to accommodate the new sill. Once that is done, I stick the sidewalls into place using blue-tack.
Then the cockpit rear wall, front bulkhead and floor and slipped into place and secured with tape.
Hmmm... not bad. The junction between the rear sill and fuselage has be repaired but otherwise fit is pretty good.
That rear bar resting on the sill was sawed away from the resin piece since it seemed like it will obstruct the fit of the canopy. I may have to shorten it.
The wing assembly has a spar so I wanted to check to see if it would conflict with the resin cockpit. It did so I had to trim two of the mounting tabs on top of the spar.
Once I did that, the wings sat into place fairly well. The fit is ok but there are some gaps that will need to be addressed once it come time for glue, I'm guessing.

I'm going to see if I can keep two builds going at once. I'm almost to the halfway point on the Corsair build and once the wings are complete, painting will begin and I think that is a good time to have another project going.
This is the Hasegawa Bf109K-4 kit. I've not built this one yet but having built the Hasegawa Fw190D-9 three times, I feel a sense of familiarity as I look at the sprues on this kit.
I'll be adding some aftermarket to this build including, in no particular order:
1. Eagle Editions 109K-4 Resin Cockpit Set
2. Henri Daehne 109G/K Resin Prop Set
3. RB Productions 109K-4 Wheel Well Detail Set
4. RB Productions 109G/K Erla Canopy
5. Barracuda Studios 109G/K Resin Wheels
6. AIMS Late War 109s Decal Sheet
7. Eagle Cals 109K-4 Decal Sheet
8. Airscale Luftwaffe Instrument and Placard Decal Sheets
9. MDC resin ammo chutes
The aircraft I will be modeling is White 8, Werk Nummer 332884, which was captured in this striking color photo:
It's represented in this profile painting by Claes Sundin:
And also recently by AIMS Models on their Late War 109s decal sheet:
Since I have Silhouette Portrait cutter, I will be using the AIMS decal sheet to produce masks for the major markings. The only decal I will be using from the AIMS sheet will probably be the "Gabi" inscription below the canopy.
The Eagle Cals 109K-4 sheet will be available for stencils. I am going to try and use the AIMS and Eagle Cals decal sheets to produce masks for the spinner spiral.

howdy folks
..just a little update as not had much time this week..
you can see here that where the skin panels on the fin & stabilisers end, it drops down to the bare fuselage shape - this is a problem for adding all the fillets around this area as when you burnish soft metal to get the complex shapes of the fillets, if it stayed like this, the fillets would distort where the existing skin ends and would form ridges...
..that means all that area needs to be filled so the surface onto which the fillets are added is perfectly flat - even a seam line can show through..
..the first step is to get a tape template of the missing area and cut a sheet of plain annealed litho to go there.. here this bit covers that area and the side of the tail fillet...
..then it is stuck & burnished and all the seams filled so it is one contiguous surface..
...I also skinned underneath by the tailwheel well..
..the fillets will come next and be quite involved - I only have drawings for the early P51B version without a tail fillet..
..you can see how they sit on top of the aircraft skin..
..and I have some good photo's of the fin fillet to work from.. - just need to unpick the order they go down - this fillet will be added later as it goes over panels I won't add until the cockpit is in place and the rear canopy are is built up..
..back soon with more..
TTFN
Peter

Thanks guys
It’s pretty much fallen together now, I’ve installed the engine and bay and the other appendages and it looks like a Corsair now. I can’t tell you enough what an amazing kit this is - go and buy one today!
Still to do - the wing and attachment, and the ground equipment; no idea how I’m going to tackle that.
Guy

Thanks for the great discussion, everyone! Lots to think about when it comes to the belly modifications but I'll make some decisions when I get to that point. Right now, I'm still working on the cockpit.
I brush painted some colors over the RLM 66 base on the instrument panel.
The instrument panel was given a gloss coat. I have a set of Airscale instrument panel decals as well as a placard set.
Using a punch set, I began to populate the panel, one instrument at a time.
Using the same punch set and sheet of overhead transparency plastic, I created a set of glass dials for all of the instruments.
Before the glass dials are stuck in position, I give the instrument panel a final flat coat (actually a 50/50 gloss/flat finish). You can forgo the dials and put a drop of Future/Gloss in each dial and call it finished.
The glass dials are just an extra touch. Here is what the finished panel looks like in the light box.

Thanks Guy's - Today's the fourth of May and it's 74 years ago Ulrich Planck landed at 'Fliegerhorst Grove' with his Arado Ar 234 8H+BH.
At Bernard Montgomery's headquarters in the Netherlands, Wehrmacht forces in northwestern Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark
surrendered to the Allies, effective at 8:00 a.m. on May 5.
The Germans Surrender to Montgomery on Lüneburg Heath, 4th May 1945
Well I wasn't able to complete this diorama for this anniversary, still want to add some extras.
But I'm pretty sure it will be all done, next year for the 75th anniversary.
Cheers: Kent

This is the older Revell kit, but it still makes up into a nice kit and the fit is actually pretty decent. Link to my build thread below.
The aircraft is one used in the 100 Hours, or more commonly known as the Soccer War between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969. It was the last air war fought with piston engined aircraft, Honduras flying Corsairs and El Salvador flying a mix of Mustangs and Corsairs. Surviving fighters on both sides continued to serve into the 1970's.

I'm not a big helicopter builder but I've always loved the AH-1 ever since I watched them fly overhead and knock the sheet out of 'targets'. It was a sight to see to say the least. Iv'e never seen the newest version up close but it looks like a killer to me.
I have a rule that for every new kit I finish, I have to pull one off the shelf of doom and finish it before I start another. I have been doing fairly good with that rule until Academy came out with the AH-1Z, damn you Academy haha. After opening the box, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist starting it. It really is one of Academy's best kits. The exterior detail is just amazing!
With that said, it's not perfect. The cockpit is very basic and not all that accurate, they didn't even include seat belts. What's up with that? The canopy is very close to the real thing but the top part is flat when it should be a bit rounded. The clear parts themselves are crystal clear either. The kit is very basic when it comes to things like open panels and not having engines. Some will like this and it seems to be a way of saving money, this kit is fairly inexpensive after all.
I had planned on going all out on this build but I couldn't find enough detailed cockpit photos to scratch the details, plus there isn't a lot of aftermarket stuff available. I know I'll be building more than one of these in the future so I decided to build this one OOB and build another after hopefully more aftermarket becomes available, specifically a cockpit.
I'm already at the paint stage but I haven't had the time to post a build thread. I'll try to go through the issues I had along the way so it will hopefully help others with their build. I have to say that so far there hasn't been a lot of problems to deal with. The fit is first class and even rivals Tamiya's latest stuff.
There are a lot of kit photos on the internet but I'll drop a few to show just how nice it really is.
Slide molding, how nice is that!
Here is the Pit, not great but not bad either. They did a good job with the IP's and they really stand out.
This first thing I noticed was it didn't have full intakes. Turns out not to be a problem with the way it angles back to the engine face. It's hard to explain how it works but it's not an issue at all once it's all built up, even the big panel line you see here isn't visible.
On the other hand, the ejector marks are a different story...
These need filled too...
The cockpit fit is really good, this is the only place I used putty. Only the bottom part is visible once everything is put together.
Black cockpits are difficult for me. I tried to break up all the black using different shades and dry brushing. The pit reminds me of the Trumpeter Intruder pit, neither are very detailed and accurate but look pretty good after they are painted up. I think it came out ok but it's still a lot of black! I think the pit floor is supposed to be grey but I had already finished it before I found out.
This kit includes green decals for the touch screens but every photo I've seen they have a purple tint to them. I was going to use clear film for these but I had to remind myself that this was supposed to be a quick build! I just painted them dark purple...
Here is my attempted at making the belts, not great but will do the job. Cheesy, I know. I used lead sheet for the belts and some old buckles from the Tamiya F-16. I made the bottom buckle based on a very grainy photo I found. I still can't get over how these weren't included especially when there was a really nice PE set that came with the kit...
I'll post more soon, thanks for looking!
Bryan

The model will be made from Italiari's TF-104 duel control F-104:
The full lighting set up:
AM, plus a Master Model pitot tube, including two Nam era pilots. It was about as close as I could come for 1959/1960. I know their helmets may be a bit too up to date for late 1959, but hey ho, they were better than any of the other choices out there. AM also includes the gorgeous Eduard exhaust and a 7/8" by 12" clear acrylic rod for the base I have yet to purchase. No further AM really needed on this one since two pilots and some lighting will take the focus in the pit, and no need for AM wheels, gear or wells with none of that showing:
Lastly, I will supplement my build with the very nice Victory productions F-104 Starfighters Part 1 decals:
I will use custom made paint masks on my Silhouette cutter for the rest of the markings not included in the decal set, along with the stars and bars. Im really looking forward to a change of pace here with a jet, as well as getting back to my roots of foiling with kitchen foil! yay!
Cheers till the next episode!

A giant leap forward with the Aeromarine.
After painting the fuselage with several thin layers of white and sealing it off with future, it was time to start the masking process..
I decided not to use a complete black paint, rather a rubber like tone.
The bottom of the hull.
Masking for a second time for the windows.
Finally the tape is off.
It's beginning to look like an Aeromarine...
Cheers: Kent

Thanks a lot folks
The goose is cooked....better pictures later....for the gallery n RFI...hope to take it along for the local group build tomorrow.......overall quite a nice build.....not much of modelling in the near future.....for me.....once I get settled and send for my things, will hopefully restart.....
in the meantime, hope you enjoy my mud mover.....thanks to Mark in Belgium for obliging with those wonderful decals....
best regards and happy modelling folks
brian

Thanks Ferry,
Yes, just need a more positive mindset!
Just thought I’d post a close up of the ridiculously perfect surface detailing. This kit is the best I have ever made - bar none. It’s going to be tricky building anything else ever again!
I’ve added some factory numbers to the wing roots as per production line photos:
Guy

Painting and adding grass to the 'Grove' base...
The corner with the 'Rasensteine'.
I had to put glue into every single hole to add the grass to the grass concrete slabs...
Detail of the concrete surface. Some stains and 'shadows' to enhance the texture.
The rainwater drain alongside the runway.
Detail of the drain.
This wasn't too bad after all, quite fun doing actually!
Cheers: Kent

Thanks guys! I've been planning to do a 332xxx or 334xxx K-4 defensive scheme and I noticed White 8 when the AIMS decal sheet came out so...
Started toying with the Eagle Editions resin cockpit, sawing off the pour stubs and fitting the components together. So far so good.
The different colors of resin bothers me for some reason. I may shoot the components with primer just to have that uniform "pre-painted" look. I'll be looking at the necessary modifications to the fuselage parts next.

An update on the runway base...
The concrete grass slabs 'Rasensteine' have been glued down...
The drain canal too...
Adding 'dirt' to the grass slates...
Some groundwork with small stones and sand...
It's getting there...
Cheers: Kent

evening folks - regular Sunday installment...
Hi Craig - it is ali, but it's this strange almost thick foil like stuff - someone in the US sent me some they use in a lab for something or other & it's perfect for compound curves - I don't know what I will do when I run out of it...
I want to get the tailfeathers skinned next, so I used the usual process and scaled a factory drawing to get the rivet pattern - this is the first step after sticking the drawing on litho and scoring & adding rivets..
..after it has been burnished flat, there is an access hatch in each surface, upper and lower so I had already had these made in PE and I use a brand new scalpel blade to go around it, then drill the corners, make a hole in the middle & score into this so I can break away the waste..
..then the rest of the waste around the panel is broken away and it's taped in position..
..stuck down with the hatch added..
..upper & lower..
..the leading edge is done is softer, thick foil like ali that is taped down to a butting straight edge and worked over the leading edge - where it meets the panel on the other side it is pushed hard so there is a step where it laps over it and then stuck down & the step sanded away resulting in a perfect join..
..guide tape is used to follow the rivet lines from the main tailplane panels to allow LE rivets to be added...
..same process for the fin - here you can see the leading edge folded back on itself ready for fixing and some rubber pipe protecting the trailing edges of the tailplanes..
..and where the LE panel meets the main panel you can see the step that gets sanded away..
..I actually later taped scaled drawings to the LE panel to get the rivet pattern right
..one of the two lower fuselage panels - this has a number of hatch cutouts in it and will set the datum for all panels to follow so needs to be right...
..with the hatches added - the bigger one with holes in needs domed rivets adding one by one when I can be bothered to drill all the holes..
and the rear is starting to take shape - unfortunately, again all this will be painted - in this case the whole empennage will be matt black...
..away for the week on business but hopefully have something done next weekend
TTFN
Peter